Happy Valenoops!
by My Destined Fate
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Arche is trying to find Chester and confess her feelings. However, things get a bit heated and she is forced to retreat from the scene feeling unwanted. Her heart in pain from the words scarred onto her very being, "At least I'm not different." Will she ever tell Chester her feelings now? Oneshot


**A/N: **This is an older fanfic my sister and I had written together. I had been going through some old things and found it and wanted to share =). I think we wrote this 2 years ago sometime around Valentine Day. Either way it was awesome 3. I hope you all enjoy it.

**Disclaimer:** Neither me or my sister owns Tales of Phantasia or its characters. All we own is ourselves =).

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**Happy Valen-Opps!**

The blue-haired archer gripped the end of the arrow that he aimed cautiously at a trunk tree that he had been aiming at almost all morning since waking up. The trunk by now was completely covered in arrows from previous shots he made. They stuck out and made it quite difficult to tell where he hadn't shot at yet

Cress and the others, as the archer assumed, were still at the inn discussing their plans for future traveling; along with necessities and provisions that they would need to get for their journey ahead. Unlike himself however, whom had ceased the opportunity to have some quiet time to practice and on that note also avoid a loud, obnoxious, and annoying mage whom, if he knew her as much as he thought, had followed him out there as well.

He could only imagine how bad his concentration would be if the young pink-haired mage was there. Hovering upon that silly broom stick of hers making obvious statements to get on his nerves purposely. But the more he thought about it he felt relief that she most likely hadn't followed him and had finally decided to leave him along for a bit. Now firing the arrow, he held been so cautiously holding, he watched it laid dead in the center of it, he was glad that his could train to be of more use to Cress and the others, whereas he wasn't before. He wiped the sweat off his forehead moving his hand with the bow down to his side.

While Chester sought to decimate the tree with his arrows, Arche sought out him.

She held onto her broom as it coursed over the trees above. She had been looking for a one Chester Barklight all morning long and could not find him. She puffed out her cheeks glaring at whatever came into her view, she was so angry to have found the archer had just up and left; she had wanted to know what his favorite food was so that she could make it.

What also angered her was the fact she was as angry as she was because of a jerk face no less. She didn't understand why it bothered her to not see him or hear him even if he did treat her rudely sometimes. She sighed and looked from in front of her to the trees below to find a small patch of nothing and a blue-haired archer. Immediately the girl's expression grew with brilliance, "There he is!" she announced happily, and dived down with her broom.

As Chester pulled out from his quiver another arrow, he situated it to where the arrow was aligned in the center of the oak bow he held in professional fingers. Pulling the string back gently, he readied to fire once again at the tree, absently considering a break after he hit his mark. If it hadn't been for a sudden gust of wind that blew forward against his face he would have shot the arrow at his target but with his attention now on the gusts appearance, the day had been a hot windless day so he hadn't expected it.

Standing now, perfectly still, Chester listened carefully. There were several possibilities that came to mind: one being it could very well be a monster on the way; two it could have been a warning of a sudden storm; or it could be a certain annoying pink-haired mage swooping about on that damned broom of hers. If it were merely a monster, Chester had no doubt that he could take it out without much delay or injuries however if it were Arche Klein on her way to get on his nerves he could only think to hide himself before she could land. Though she was one of his comrades (strange to even consider such a pest a comrade), Chester couldn't bring himself to hide, she might actually have something important to say.

He now sighed, deciding he'd rather like to ignore the idea that it were Arche and not a monster, it could have very well been a bird swooping pass him.

A really large bird.

A very large bird.

Crap.

Chester Barklight shook his head and brought his focus to his training, pulling the bow up to his view; he closed one eye and aimed slowly, getting his aiming perfect.

"Chester!" called a voice that penetrated the very fabric of Chester's concentration.

He squinted from the very piercing voice, he nearly growled underneath his breath before looking up at the owner of the voice. He opened his mouth to say something but clamped it shut and jerked his eyes to the girl, glaring at the chipper female, "What is it?" he questioned through gritted teeth now.

The girl puffed her cheeks out at his question, detecting the rudeness of it, "You don't have to be rude!" she snapped at him, folding her arms over her chest, lifting her nose up stubbornly.

"I think I have that privileged." he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Well excuse a girl for wanting to come and see you!"

He was not sure how to take that but the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "Why?" with a doubtful expression on his face now, he waited for an answer.

She glanced over to him and noticed that his attention was on her, strangely enough her cheeks grew a faint pink, "W-well, I.. I umm.." she looked away now, feeling embarrassed that his eyes were glued to her, though she knew it were for an answer and nothing more. "Urgh!" she growled. "Can't I do something without a reason!?" she demanded.

She knew her reasoning. Today was an important day, Valentine's Day, no doubt. She had promised herself that today was going to be the day that she gave her _heart_to him even if he didn't accepted it (which was one of the reasons she flattered now). "Anyway, are you trying to seem useful to the group now?" she decided to switch tactics.

He arched a thin brow. "Might have." he wasn't sure whether or not to prompt her about her earlier statement or allow her to changer the topic.

"Oh?" she asked, looking to him carelessly. "So that means you aren't anymore?"

"It means I'm paused because someone intruded." he glared.

Arche clasped her hands dramatically in front of her, "Oh I wonder who such a soul could be?"

Chester merely gave her a blank expression to her dramatic playing. All he wanted to do was train so that he was ready for anything and the one thing he hadn't been prepared for was an intrusive half-elf on a broom. Now that he took note of her existence, he realized that she had backed away from him a bit on that wooden object; he furrowed his brows and felt a question pulling at him. "Hey... ditz.." he started slowly.

The so called ditz, whom had been going on and on about something, glanced over to him annoyed that he, had interrupted her. She hadn't even realized he wasn't paying her any attention though at the time. "What is it?" she replied nonchalantly.

The archer grabbed a hold of the tip of her broom and yanked it down closer to him, forcing her to slide forward on the item and closer into him. "What the heck are you playing at?" he asked her, thinking that she were up to something that he probably wouldn't like.

Arche flushed brightly.

He hadn't realized how intently he was watching her when he noticed her face grow with a brilliant warm pink that complimented her strangely. "Now what?" he asked, sounding a bit irritated though more at himself thoughts than her making him wait for an answer.

"W-well-" she stopped when she heard a calling of some sort. The voice was distant at first but it grew to almost where the voice seemed to be calling out the names of both herself and the archer. "Hey... that sounds a lot like-"

"There you are!" breathed an agitated Klarth F. Lester, whom seemed to have been beaten down by the forest itself on his journey to find them. When he finally caught his breathing, he got his first good look at the two and smirked, standing upright and folding an arm over his chest, the other hand cupped his chin. "I hadn't realized the two of you finally decided to make a move." he looked away, almost as if remembering something fondly. "Young love, I say." he now added.

At first everything was still. The archer stared blankly at the eldest member of the party, as if comprehending the meaning behind the summoners comment. He glanced back at Arche, fixing to ask her if she caught the joke when he noticed just how close his face was to hers and like a bomb-it hit the archer-his eyes widened, his cheeks grew a nearly visible blush. "What?" he panicked a bit, clearing his throat as he let go of the mage's broom. "What the heck are you saying?" he added, trying to regain his normal temperature. He couldn't even believe that Klarth was even implying such a thing between the two of them no less. "Who in Aeslia would want to make a move on a ditz like her?" he furthered, pointing back at the pink haired girl.

"Funny! I was going to say to same thing about you, jerk face!" the mage puffed her cheeks out and glared at him..

Klarth sighed, wondering just how long the argument would go on this time.

"At least I'm not annoying and loud!" Chester shot at her.

"At least I'm not a pompous jerk!" Arche shouted.

Chester sucked up air, obviously offended by the very statement, "Yeah? Well..." the archer was flustered and above all else, angry, he didn't have any bad habits the girl had and before he could think of one he just shot out, "Well at least I'm not different!" as soon as he said it he hated himself.

Arche stared at him, a hurt expression playing upon her face. She knew what he meant. She was a half-elf. No one wanted her and would always be different from others. It hurt to hear that but it hurt even more coming from Chester, her heart felt as if it were being squeezed as tightly as it could be.

"H-hey.. I-I..." he felt so horrible.

She gripped tightly upon her broom stick and shifted it in a different direction, "Well I'm sorry for being different.." she murmured before she flew off.

"Hey! Stop!" he called after her.

He was an idiot, that's what he was. That wasn't what he wanted to come out of his mouth of all the things he could have or should have said. _Just great!_He thought angrily. He withdrew the hand that had extended out after the mage had flown off from sight and brought it to his face, in an attempt to keep his frustration under control.

What had he been thinking? Why did he have to say such a terrible thing? With those questions tumbling about in his mind, he wondered just how long he'd have to wait before the great Klarth decided to shed some light on his poor choice of battle words. Just thinking about the made him even more furious with himself, he knew just how low he had been by going and saying that to her. He took a small breath and turned to Klarth, not exactly sure what to say the the summoner who had watched the entire show go down. He knew he needed to apologize but wasn't sure where to find her.

As the archer went to look up he was sent down to his knees holding his head. "Ow!" he groaned frustratingly at the pain that had presented itself.

"Now that you've had time to stand here and do nothing, may I suggest your next plan of attack?" Klarth asked, looking down at the man he had hit with his large book that still hovered where Chester had at one time stood.

Later that evening, Arche sat by the river bed, her broom to her left while tears spilled over her cheeks. She felt so heartbroken and wasn't exactly sure why. She sniffled and tried stopping but they just kept coming. "Stupid Chester..." she merely muttered under her breath, hugging her knees to her chest.

She had been told that all her life and they had never hurt her as Chester's words had just earlier.

"Hey ditz." called Chester from behind her.

"Go away jerk face!" she muttered, not looking over to him.

He had to resist all the urges to argue with her and made his way beside her but didn't bother sitting down as he kept his eyes on the river bed instead of the girl, "No." he said to her flatly. "Listen.." he began closing his eyes, he felt his thoughts were running around in a mild panic trying to figure out what the archer was going to say.

Even after thinking the whole way there, he hadn't really figured out his speech, all of what he wanted to say was unorganized and bounced upon the walls of his mind, as if taunting him. He rubbed the back of his head a bit now, "I didn't really mean to say what I had." he told her.

"So you think I am just never wanted me to know?" she asked bitterly "How sweet."

"Will you shut up and let me figure this out!" he snapped through gritted teeth. When she made no comment he took his chance to continue, "I do believe you're different.. And that's what makes you.. Interesting."

"That sounded cheesy." she told him bluntly, looking up at him as if he were stupid.

He felt the corner of his mouth twitch a bit by the comment, "Well excuse me!" he spat, already losing his cool. His eyes shot from the river to her, glaring down at the girl who looked up to him with what looked to have been tearful eyes. He felt the twinge of guilt rack away at his conscious, if he hadn't already hurt her to start off with he doubted the face would hit him with such force. "Ugh!" he looked down to the ground now, feeling defeated.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing."

He could hear. "What?" he looked back over to her and frowned. "What do you mean? I'm the jerk who called you different." he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was agreeing with the mage..

She shook her head, "That was because I bothered you though. All I really wanted to do was.. was too..." she blushed softly.

Once again the archer stared down at her blankly, he noticed her cheeks grow that soft color and couldn't help but think how cute she looked again, it did compliment her well. "Was to what?" he found himself prompting, curious to know what all this was really about.

Arche stood up and grabbed her broom, "Listen! I'm only going to be nice this once!" she announced, trying to stand strong, seeming to have decided on doing something.

He arched a brow, "Uh huh?"

The chipper half-elf jumped up onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Happy Valentine's Day! I'm not pretty or feminine for your stature but I like you nevertheless!" she kissed his lips quickly and jumped back, blushing brightly. Her hand now placed softly against her own lips, a bit awed by her sudden guts.

The archer froze for a moment from the touch of her lips against his, but wasn't able to react to it as she moved away too quickly. His cheeks grew a bright pink as the mage in front of him did, "Uh.." he shook his head to regain his composure and get his wording straight.

He looked at her and just stared. When did she become so..? He thought about the words she said to him before he spoke once more stepping closer to her, "... Happy Valentine's Day," he gave her a small smile, bringing his hand to her cheek and caressing it before adding, "You ditz."

She beamed up at him, "Jerk face."


End file.
